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Study for SAT instead of doing grammar


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I'm finished teaching my 9th grader any new grammar.  We've been using Analytical Grammar's high school reinforcement books this year.  In those, the student does a page of grammar every couple of weeks to keep the concepts fresh.  There are no new lessons.

 

Analytical Grammar is having a sale right now, and I was about to buy another book for next year, to keep grammar fresh in my student's mind.  

 

But an idea popped into my head....maybe instead of using the time next year to do Analytical Grammar every couple of weeks, I should use that time in 10th and 11th grades to do SAT prep for the reading section. 

 

Good idea?  Waste of time?  Brilliant?  Inefficient?  

 

 

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I have not used Analytical Grammar so have no idea about its usefulness for test prep.

Have your 9th grader tried a SAT Reading or ACT English practice test? If your son has tried those sections, what are the weak areas? You might be surprised at how little test prep you need to do.

 

My younger is not as strong as my older in grammar but his SAT reading and ACT English scores were surprisingly not too bad for a 5th grader. There is a ROI to test prep though so without a baseline from a practice test or the actual test, it is hard to give an opinion of whether it would be a good idea or inefficient. I do find for my own kids, proofreading was the most efficient skill for scoring well for those sections. Ironically they learned that well from K12 inc language arts (2nd-4th grade) when they were with the public charter.

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I have not used Analytical Grammar so have no idea about its usefulness for test prep.

Have your 9th grader tried a SAT Reading or ACT English practice test? If your son has tried those sections, what are the weak areas? You might be surprised at how little test prep you need to do.

 

My younger is not as strong as my older in grammar but his SAT reading and ACT English scores were surprisingly not too bad for a 5th grader. There is a ROI to test prep though so without a baseline from a practice test or the actual test, it is hard to give an opinion of whether it would be a good idea or inefficient. I do find for my own kids, proofreading was the most efficient skill for scoring well for those sections. Ironically they learned that well from K12 inc language arts (2nd-4th grade) when they were with the public charter.

 

 

He took the PSAT this past year just to get a feel for what it's like to take a test in a stressful environment since he's never done that before.

 

I do have the test results and there is room for improvement.  Thanks for the great suggestion.

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Was it the reading section or the writing and language section that is lower? I am asking because the sections emphasis are different. Grammar practice would boost the writing and language section score for PSAT and SAT. My younger is weaker in reading comprehension which pulls down the reading score so that is where I target test prep time for.

 

Reading https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/psat-nmsqt-psat-10/inside-the-test/reading

Writing and language https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/psat-nmsqt-psat-10/inside-the-test/writing-language

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If I understand your question, you want to use the time you would have used for AG's review sections instead on targeted test prep for the SAT English sections.

 

I think that's a good idea of how to build in test prep so you don't forget about it & use your time wisely without overdoing it.

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If I understand your question, you want to use the time you would have used for AG's review sections instead on targeted test prep for the SAT English sections.

 

I think that's a good idea of how to build in test prep so you don't forget about it & use your time wisely without overdoing it.

 

 

Yup.  That was the question. I was going to do grammar review lessons, and then thought, "How about I nix the idea of doing grammar review and spend that time doing SAT prep instead?"  

 

It seemed like a good idea, and it looks like you guys agree.  

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